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Tuesday, 6 September 2011

The best cooking resources for students

For some of you, your time at university will be the first time you've had to fully cater for yourself. While it's tempting to live on microwave meals, toast and beans, it's often cheaper and healthier to cook your own food from scratch.

Epicurious
The Epicurious App is another worthy download (and it's free!). It's got recipes for all skills, including an 'I can barely cook' section, filled with 8,435 recipes, and a section for those who are more advanced. The downside is that it's American, so you'll have to deal with cups, pounds and pints.

Oh, and you can add the ingredients to the shopping list section, complete with tick boxes. Handy.

Android apps

AllRecipes.com Dinner SpinnerThe AllRecipes.com Dinner Spinner app lets you find the perfect recipe with just a couple of taps. You choose the course, the main ingredient and how long you have, and it'll give you your options. You can also shake the phone for a random option. It's free too.

Big OvenBig Oven is packed full of 170,000 recipes. The great thing about this app, is the 'Use Up Leftovers' section. Usefule for Thursday nights when the only things you've got left in your fridge are an egg, some sad looking spinach and some leftover chicken from yesterday's dinner.Epicurious
We've already mentioned this one in the iPhone app section, but it's also available for Android devices.

Useful Websites

BBC Good Food
We've talked about the iPhone app, but the Good Food website is definitely worth adding to your bookmarks. It's got something for everyone, and the food articles are always interesting.

Jamie Oliver
If you prefer your recipes a little more 'throw in a bit of this and a bit of that', then Jamie's website is probably for you. It's all fairly simple to cook, and there's a section on budget meals that's made for students really. Be aware though, that his 20-minute meals rarely take that long - unless you have someone else preparing everything for you and washing up afterwards.

Delia Smith
You can't learn how to cook without a little help from Delia. Her website caters for those with little time (the under 30 minutes section) and even has a coupon section so you can save money on your weekly shop.

That's just a few online resources for cooking. Where do you go for cooking tips? Do you have an app or cook book you'd recommend? Or any top tips? Let us know in the comments!